Under constructionWork continues on a home being built by Robert Tilton’s company, Venetian Way Holdings Inc., at 1350 S. Venetian Way on the island front of Biscayne Bay in Miami Beach, Fla. Building permits, which list Tilton as the owner, have been issued for a two-story home with a tile roof, pool, spa and terraced deck. DAVID ADAME / Tulsa World

Below:
Recent mailings from Robert Tilton include a large poster of himself praying,
prayer cloths, fake currency and appeals for money. TOM GILBERT / Tulsa World

Bottom:
Robert Tilton’s company, Venetian Way Holdings Inc., purchased this lot in 2001 for $1.39 million. Tilton is building a two-story home on the property, records show. DAVID ADAME / Tulsa World

Tilton's ministry reaching out again, raking in millions

More than 10 years after his ministry collapsed in scandal, Robert Tilton is reaching millions of
television viewers with his pitches for money, living comfortably in south Florida and
maintaining a connection with Tulsa.

Far from shrinking into obscurity, Tilton is reaping millions from his mailing list and daily shows on Black Entertainment Television. He has formed two companies, bought a 50-foot yacht and purchased a $1.3 million piece of oceanfront property in Miami Beach through his company, records show.

And although Tilton's downfall began when prayer requests sent to him were thrown away in Tulsa trash Dumpsters, prayer requests sent to his Tulsa post office box two years ago were apparently still being discarded. A woman who spent
two days opening mail to Tilton told the Tulsa World that she and other workers were instructed to remove the cash and checks and throw away the letters and prayer requests written to Tilton.

Tilton did not return calls
seeking comment. In a letter to
the Tulsa World, he wrote: "For
years, we have taken great care
to assure that all prayer requests are delivered to me personally and prayed over by me.
Written instructions are always
given with each communication
by this ministry to ensure that
prayer requests are to come to
me personally."

James Ferris, a Tulsa attorney
who has helped Tilton set up
several business ventures, declined to answer questions regarding Tilton:

"I'm not a very good PR person, and you know how lawyers
are about confidentialities. I'm
not sure how much I could tell
you. Everything I would have to
say about the ministry would be
good, of course."

Tulsa attorney Gary Richardson filed several lawsuits against
Tilton on behalf of people who
had filmed testimonials or donated money to Tilton. One of the
suits resulted in a $1.5 million
verdict against Tilton but was reversed on appeal.

"He's a great communicator
and very effective at touching
people in their emotions and
motivating them," Richardson
said. "He's an enjoyable person
to be around, but you just want
to keep your hands on your
pocketbook."

Richardson said Tilton's followers are often in desperate situations.

"The people that these guys
so often attract are people that
are going under for the third
time. If you looked up and saw
a straw on the surface of that
water, you would still reach for
the straw."

Brain-eating rats

In 1991, ABC-TV's "PrimeTime
Live" program reported that Tilton's Word of Faith World Outreach Center Church, then
based in Dallas, was making $80
million a year from followers
through its direct mail campaign. At the time, Tilton's television show, "Success-N-Life,"
was broadcast by 200 stations
nationwide and his church
claimed 10,000 members.

"PrimeTime Live" suggested
Tilton's ministry engaged in mail
fraud and showed contributors'
letters, many of them requests
for help, in a trash Dumpster
outside Commercial Bank of Tulsa. A Tulsa recycler said he also
found thousands of prayer requests for Tilton's ministry
among the waste sent to him by
a company that handled Tilton's
mail.

The program sparked an investigation by the Texas attorney general and numerous lawsuits. Stations canceled Tilton's
television program until it eventually went off the air.

He divorced his first wife,
Marte Tilton, in 1993, and married evangelist and former beauty queen Leigh Valentine the following year.

Two years later, his first wife
sued for more than $1 million
and his marriage to Valentine
ended in a bitter public feud.
Valentine alleged Tilton, in a
drunken rage, verbally abused
her, claimed he was the pope
and thought rats were eating his
brain. She eventually lost her
claim to church assets.

Tilton has since married a
Florida woman, Maria Rodriguez.

Tilton sold his Dallas church
in 1999 for $6.1 million. At the
time, headlines dubbed Tilton a
"beleaguered TV preacher" and
news coverage portrayed a man
beset by marital and financial
problems. But he was already
well into his comeback.

During testimony in his divorce from Valentine, Tilton testified that he was bringing in
about $800,000 per month and
living aboard a $450,000 yacht in
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Records
show the 50-foot yacht, named
the Liberty Leigh, was registered to Tilton.

Tilton returned to the air in
1997, buying time on independent television stations in several large cities. The following
year, his program began airing
on Black Entertainment Television.

Tilton's show airs on the network for one hour each morning
at 3 a.m, as well as 6:30 a.m. on
Mondays and 10 p.m. Sundays.
The network said it has a potential audience of 74 million
homes, although it had no figures on individual viewership of
Tilton's show.

Ole Anthony, the founder of
the religious watchdog group
the Trinity Foundation, said Tilton pays $50,000 per month for
the air time. The foundation,
based in Dallas, was largely responsible for exposing Tilton's
practices in 1991.

Anthony estimates that Tilton's ministry is grossing $24
million a year and that most of
his shows are reruns or repackaged versions of older shows.

"With no production costs, a
fraction of his former TV time
budget, his net must rival that
of the good old days with absolutely no effort on his part," Anthony said.

"The purpose of all of it, including the prayer line, is to get
names and addresses, which are
the key to successful direct
mail."

The shows feature testimonials from working-class people
who say they experienced a financial turnaround after giving
hundreds or even thousands to
Tilton. During one recently aired
show, Tilton, clad in a tailored
brown suit, urges viewers to
make a financial "vow" to his
ministry even if they are in
debt.

"Anyone can give when things
look good, but when you give
out of want, when things don't
look good . . . it releases faith,"
he says.

Tilton exhorts viewers toward
the end of his show to make a
$1,000 vow because "my God is
going to supply your need.

"Thank God we have freedom
of religion in America, that I can
boldly proclaim these powerful
truths to you."

As the show continues, Tilton
reads the names and hometowns
of viewers who have called to
pledge money. At the end of the
program, a gospel singer performs while Tilton sits at an imposing stone desk nearby. Tilton
gleefully claps his hands as an
assistant hands him stacks of
yellow pledge sheets.

Those who call a toll-free
number broadcast on his show
and give their address are
placed on the ministry's mailing
list. They receive two or three
mailings from Tilton each
month.

Tilton's mailings promise a financial windfall from God if the
recipient will only donate to his
ministry. Some letters request
specific amounts, such as $200.
Many mailings contain trinkets
such as packets of anointing oil,
miracle bracelets, prayer cloths
and large posters of Tilton grimacing in prayer.

The mailings request that do
nations and prayer requests be
sent to a Tulsa post office box.

Two years ago, employees
who opened the mail were instructed to remove the money
and throw out the letters and
prayer requests, according to a
Tulsa woman. Patricia Morrow
said she worked for Mail Services Inc. for two days in 2001,
opening letters addressed to
"Rev. Tilton" and taking out the
cash.

Morrow, 63, said she got the
job through an employment
agency. Morrow said she
worked for two days in the
basement of the Kennedy Building in an old bank vault opening
hundreds of letters. The building at 321 S. Boston Ave. is the
same address where Tilton
prayer requests were found in
Dumpsters in 1991.

"They were all addressed to
this Rev. Tilton," Morrow said of
the letters she opened.

"You're sat down in a cubicle
and given a letter opener. You
have bundles and bundles of
mail and a trash bin beside you.
You slice open the envelope,
take the money out and throw
the letter away in the bin."

She said another employee
came by to empty the trash bins
regularly and a manager collected the cash and checks from
employees who opened the letters.

"The bins are picked up and
emptied into trash sacks and put
into a special room. They
weren't there the next day."

Morrow said there was no attempt to keep the letters together and it was apparent that no
one planned to read them. But
Morrow read many of them during her two days with Mail Services Inc.

"You cannot help but read
them," she said. "All these letters were like, 'Pray for me,' because they were terminal or
their son is terminal or there
was no money for food . . . desperate situations."

She said nearly all of the letters she opened were from rural
Florida or rural Georgia and
they often contained cash in odd
amounts.

"There would be like $17, and
the letter would say, 'I realize I
have to give $2 more than I usually give.' "

She described the letter writers as lonely homebound people
in rural areas wanting help from
God.

Morrow said there were about
a dozen other women opening
mail and several told her that
employees were expected to
open enough letters to produce
$1,000 per hour.

"It was an unstated criteria
that you open enough envelopes
to generate $1,000 an hour. It
was unbelievable, literally unbelievable."

After opening the letters for
two days, Morrow said she told
a manager at her employment
agency that she had concerns
about what was going on there.

"I told her that it was getting
to me about these letters and
could she find me another job?"

Morrow said she was then
told to leave Mail Services' office immediately and not finish
the work day.

Officials at the Kennedy Building would not comment on
whether Tilton's mail was still
being opened there.

Tilton is still listed as pastor
of a small church, Church Triumphant, that meets in an office
building in Farmers Branch,
Texas. During worship services
last Sunday, about 70 people attended and sang for an hour
while a four-member church
band played.

Bob Wright preached a sermon focusing on prosperity.
Wright, who also operates a
used-car dealership in Dallas,
said that he had faith that God
would send people to Wright's
car lot.

A woman who attended the
service said Tilton preached at
the church about one year ago
and she was unsure when he
would return.

Property records list the owner as Church Triumphant and
list the same Tulsa post office
box used by Tilton for several
for-profit corporations. Wright
did not return calls seeking
comment.

Anthony said Tilton maintains
an affiliation with the church so
that he can maintain his organization's tax-exempt status as a
church and avoid filing financial
returns.

"Their moral code is not the
Bible. Their moral code is the
IRS code," Anthony said.

Miami Beach property

In addition to operating his
ministry, Tilton has formed several for-profit companies in Florida and Oklahoma, records show.

Tilton formed Venetian Way
Holdings Inc. three years ago.
The company lists its address as
320 S. Boston Ave., the address
of Ferris, Tilton's Tulsa attorney.
According to its incorporation
papers, the company exists to
hold title to property for a tax-exempt organization.

Records show Venetian Way
Holdings paid $1.39 million for a
12,000-square-foot lot on an island fronting the Biscayne Bay
in Miami Beach two years ago.

Building permits have been issued for a two-story, single-family home with a tile roof, pool,
spa and terraced deck. The
holding company takes its name
from the street on which the
home sits: Venetian Way.

Tilton listed himself as owner
of the property in a building permit request for a burglar alarm.

Mail-order faith comes with accessories

Trinkets -- including oil, a bracelet and the "Green
Financial Prayer Cloth" -- are supposed to bring wealth.

God wants to make you rich, promises "Pastor Bob" Tilton, and Tilton
will send you financial prayer cloths,
posters of himself, packets of oil and
other trinkets to make it happen.

Those who send money to Tilton's
ministry through his daily shows on
Black Entertainment Television wind
up on his massive mailing list. His
mailings, several each month, urge recipients to send money to Tilton's Tulsa post office box.

Letters are personalized, with the
recipient's first name and hometown
sprinkled throughout. All are signed
"Bob" in handwriting and "Pastor Bob
Tilton" underneath.

Here are excerpts from several recent mailings:

Feb. 22: "I've sent you this packet
of oil to help you release your faith
for your emergency miracle," states
the letter. "Use it to anoint whatever
represents your Emergency Crisis. If
it's a financial crisis, anoint your wallet or billfold or checkbook."

The letter ends by asking for a
"sacrificial gift of $20 or the largest
gift you can possibly give even if you
have to scrape the bottom of your
meal barrel."

March 1: A thick mailing includes a large poster of Tilton with
one hand raised and his eyes closed tightly, surrounded by 21 squares marking
a calendar. The mailing includes 21 stickers that recipients are to peel
off and affix each day to the poster. It also includes a red "prayer of
agreement miracle cloth" and three forms that recipients can return along
with financial donations during each week of the 21-day prayer "campaign."

Tilton is pictured throughout the
mailing grimacing in prayer, on his
knees praying and clutching a red
cloth and praying.

"Take the enclosed poster of me
and my hand and put it up on your
refrigerator or a mirror . . . somewhere so that you'll see it every day.
Then every day for the next 21 days
. . . lay your hand on top of mine and
agree with me for your miracle," the
letter states.

The letter also directs recipients to
trace their hand on a "miracle request" form and return it with the red
prayer cloth. Tilton promises to take
the requests and cloths "to my prayer
room or my prayer altar on my daily
TV program, Success-N-Life."

The letter ends by requesting "your
best financial gift as an expression of
appreciation."

"You don't buy God but all throughout the Bible, when people came to
God with prayer requests, they always
brought a quality offering."

March 28: A four-page letter includes a fluorescent pink cotton cord,
which Tilton calls an "Ezekiel 16:11
bracelet." The letter instructs recipients to "place this miracle faith bracelet around your right wrist right now.

"I am coming against the spirit of
poverty that is trying to cut off your
money supply. . . . Get out your largest bill and lay it under this miracle
bracelet that I have given you. . . .
Give God your biggest and best."

The letter includes a form on which
recipients can check off a list of ailments or financial problems and return it to Tilton with their largest
bills.

It also includes testimonials from
people such as "Earl," who claims his
family income jumped from $9,000 per
year to more than $94,000 two weeks
after his wife began sending money to
Tilton.

April 8: "In Jesus' name, I am sending you this Green Financial Prayer
Cloth for you to defeat Satan's plan,"
states the letter, which contains a
strip of thin, green fabric.

Recipients are directed to write the
date, time and their name on the
cloth. "Place this Green Financial
Cloth under your pillow and allow
God's spirit to rest upon you as you
sleep tonight. Tomorrow, remove the
Green Financial Prayer Cloth, touch it
to your heart, your forehead and your
pocketbook."

The letter suggests a financial donation to Tilton of $107, $177 or an
amount decided by the recipient. It
contains a wish list of items that recipients can check off, including: "a
better job," "new clothes," 'a loan"
and "a newer car."

April 14: "I must tell you boldly:
God wants to make you rich. . . . God
wants to make a millionaire out of
certain ones who receive this letter. Is
it you?"

The letter includes a large slip of
paper fashioned into a $1 million bill
and a penny glued to the reverse
side. The bill includes a checklist of
desires, including a new home, new
car, a piece of real estate or money
for vacation.

"I want you to put a checkmark on
the back of the Million Dollar Bill of
what you need or desire, and send it
back to me, along with a Seed Faith
Gift of $200. . . . This ministry has given you spiritual food, so it's time to
pay your tithes."